To You
by CookieMonsterJacketGirlSKE
Summary: Gaara's friends are bent on finding Gaara his first girlfriend. What does Gaara have to say about this? And what is Sakura's role in this whole thing, being the new girl in the neighborhood?
1. Not A Tribute Band

I will not be posting lyrics of any kind! I don't own the characters or songs!

The Unforgiven I, II, and III are by Metallica. Party In Your Bedroom is by Cash, Cash. If I'm James Dean, Then You're Audrey Hepburn is by Sleeping With Sirens. Swing, Swing is by All American Rejects.

Again, I will not be posting the lyrics, I will just be referring to them. More song will be added later on in the story, it's recommended that you look them up! :D

Reviewing is always appeciated and I can use flames to make myself a better writer! :D

Enjoy!

* * *

"Gaara! I can't wait for the concert tonight! You tribute band is doing great!"

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes at the girl. She'd probably even heard a Metallica song before. I must ask myself again:

Since when was it cool to be in a tribute band?

I'll tell you when. Never! My band isn't even a tribute band! We're just doing a few Metallica covers! Personally, I don't think I sound anything like their lead singer.

"Hn."

The only reason my band was performing tonight was because of the festival. It's weird. I've never heard of a festival dedicated to music before. Since my band is the only good band in Suna, the guy in charge of the festival asked us to perform covers of Metallica and some of our original stuff.

He's going to pay us handsomely might I just tell you.

The girl tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and attempted to bat her eyelashes at me.

"So I was wondering-"

"Bahahahahahaha! Gaara's getting hit on! Make the move honey! See what happens!"

The said girl's face went the color of a tomato and I rolled my eyes. This time at least. She looked like she was going to pass out. I didn't really care though to be honest. She didn't even have my attention.

Naruto stomped over between us and grinned, "Sorry, you're not his type!"

The girl frowned and crossed her arms, "How would you know?!"

Naruto, oh god, that grin. He touched my chest and started playing with my lip ring. I had to hold myself from punching him in the throat. I have violent tendencies…

"We're lovers, duh!"

Her face was priceless but she grinned evilly. Oh shit. I know that look.

"Gay lovers, huh? Kiss then!"

Oh hell no. There was no way.

We were best friends but that was going too far just to get away from a girl. Naruto's face went blank. A true blonde, he was. He started shaking his head hysterically.

"No way!"

I pushed him away and turned away from them both.

"Then I want to talk to Gaara!" She stomped her foot on the ground.

My eye twitched. She was getting annoying now. Very annoying. I'm tired of being nice now.

"Listen. I don't even know your name and you're starting to piss me off. Go away."

I made a shooing movement. I rarely ever do that… That's how annoyed I was.

The girl stared at me in disbelief.

"You don't know my name? We went on a date last year!"

I arched a brow at her. I've never been on a 'date.' There's a perfectly solid reason for that too! Naruto started laughing.

"You thought Sasori was Gaara!"

"W-what?! No I didn't!" Her face went red again.

I growled. I had more important things to do than deal with this kid. My jaw was getting sore from me biting my tongue.

This conversation is over. I'm done now. I walked away without looking back. Naruto soon followed, catching up to me eventually.

"Does that happen a lot?" He sounded curious about it. We've known each other for so long and I've never told him about my… girl problems. I've never had any girl related issues. Just stupid idiot fangirls with nothing better to do than stalk the shit out of me because everyone else is scared to death of me at school. Seriously, I stepped out of the classroom one day to go to my locker and every single person in the hallway cleared out. They were smart to do that too. I wasn't happy that day.

"Aa."

Naruto laughed again, "Dude! You get hit on by girls all the time and you never told me?!"

"It's not important. None of them have ever made a difference before. Most of them don't hit on me. Rather they follow me around and take creepy photos and post them on Instagram saying 'Look at Gaara! Isn't he so cute?' and assume I'd never find out about it."

I've never met a girl that's stuck in my head in a positive way. Ever. Of course, there's my sister, Temari and her friends but they don't count.

Naruto blinked at me for a minute and started laughing again.

"Bitches be crazy these days!" Naruto… My blonde best friend.

Why me? Why did you choose me? Sometimes I wonder if you did it to torture me with your ridiculously annoying antics.

"Anyway, Neji and Shikamaru are waiting for us to start rehearsal at the warehouse."

I nodded and got in the driver's seat of my car. Naruto wasted no time jumping in the passenger seat.

I noticed his phone go off and he read it so intently it was a little intimidating. It was either really serious or Naruto hasn't eaten in a little while and that's his hungry face.

"Hinata said there's a new girl in the neighborhood!"

Why doesn't that surprise me? Please Naruto, try to get Hinata to set me up with her. I beg of you. I almost sickened myself with sarcasm.

Naruto grinned even wider than earlier and let me know exactly where she lived.

"She lives right next door to you!"

Great, knowing Temari, the new girl will be at our house all the time now. Unless they all went to her house instead… Nope. Temari would find a reason to be at our house all the freaking time.

There's no telling what Tenten, Hinata and Temari will do to try and get us on a date too. It's like they're desperate to find me a girlfriend. They probably take pity on me because I'm the only one in the group that's single.

I wanted to bang my head up against the steering wheel until I bled to death.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Hinata said they're bringing her to the festival to show her around. Eh, Gaara… What do you think?"

My eyebrow twitched involuntarily. I'm losing patience with my friends.

"Naruto, this better not be one of their plans to hook me up again."

"C'mon! She could be cute!"

"I don't care if she's cute or not. Tell them in advance that I'm not interested and I would rather not have them try to hook us up."

Naruto pouted a little. This guy is eighteen years old and he still pouts like a six year old. It's ridiculous.

~The Festival~

I couldn't believe how crowded the festival was. It began at 4pm and ended at around 12am.

We went on at 7pm. Oh yeah, in like twenty minutes.

Naruto and Choji, Shikamaru's friend, had an eating contest to see who could eat the most ramen. It didn't surprise me when Naruto won. Choji's pretty big but he has nothing on Naruto when it comes to ramen. Not a thing.

Naruto jumped from his seat in triumph.

"_Ahem!_ We go on in less than twenty minutes. Let's go now!" I practically dragged Naruto across the grounds. Shikamaru and Neji followed behind in silence.

"Next up is Reverse Destiny performing their cover of The Unforgiven trilogy and a few originals!" Kakashi announced.

Naruto peeked out from behind the curtains and laughed suddenly. Neji jerked him back into place.

"What are you doing Naruto?! Get into your seat at the drums!"

Naruto pouted.

"I was just seeing if Hinata was with the new girl or not…"

"And?" Shikamaru pushed.

"She is and she-"

"Shut up!" I yelled.

"Fine… No more talk about her. What are we doing again?"

"The Unforgiven trilogy, Party In your Bedroom, If I'm James Dean, Then You're Audrey Hepburn, and Swing Swing."

"Awesome!"

The curtains opened and the music started. Naruto on drums, Shikamaru on bass, Neji on guitar and me on vocals and guitar. That was when I saw it.

Her.

I almost forgot what I was doing. She had pink hair and bright green eyes and was standing right in the center of the crowd. I had never seen her before. Just looking at her made me breathless.

Oh right, music.


	2. Just Breakfast

Switches between Sakura's point of view and Gaara's point of view... Hope you like it! (:

Suna. I like this place already. My new neighborhood is amazing! We just moved in today and I've already made friends!

Temari, Tenten and Hinata to be exact. Right now, we're at the music festival. Their boyfriends and Temari's brother were performing. They thought it would be fun to take me with them. They were right!

"Sakura!" Tenten dragged me to the center of the audience. Everyone was scattered amongst the other festival goers. It was weird…

"Hey Tenten?" I turned in her direction to ask her a question but she had disappeared.

What.? Where did she go?

I felt a little claustrophobic for a minute but it subsided when the music started. The redhead. Why is he looking at me? Why am I staring at him? Stop it Sakura!

He was _very_ attractive. I had to admit that much. His voice was really nice. Nothing like James Hetfield… I think that's what he was going for anyway.

I cut-off our eye contact because it was getting weird for me. I had no idea who he was and here I am drooling over him!

Never._ Never. Never!_

My phone vibrated in my pocket, telling me I got a text. I didn't feel like looking at it though. I'm here for the music! I'm starting my new life here in Suna and no one's going to ruin it!

I know I probably seem paranoid saying this but it felt like _someone_ was watching me. Next thing I know, I was looking back up at the stage. It seriously couldn't be him. Are you kidding me? He was staring at me! I'm not sure if I should be freaked out or melting. I didn't really mind actually.

The band finished their songs and I applauded along with everyone else. They really were good!

I checked my phone to see who called. I groaned when I saw who it was.

"Itachi is going to kill me for ignoring his call!"

I found Temari, Tenten and Hinata and bid my goodbyes. I wished I could have met that redheaded singer but if I didn't call Itachi back soon, he was going to come looking for me. I don't want that.

"Aw… You have to go already?" Temari pouted a little bit.

I rubbed the back of my head and laughed a little.

"Haha, yeah… I forgot to do something at home."

Temari looked passed me and grinned, looking back at me.

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"I'm making breakfast if you and whoever else wants to come over and eat!"

"That would be great! We'll see you then!"

I waved them goodbye and left without looking back. As soon as I got as far away as possible, I called Itachi.

"_Sakura! Geez, where have you been? I've been calling you for like an hour now!_"

Typical Itachi. So uptight. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry! I was at the music festival with my new neighbors and friends… I wouldn't have been able to hear you anyway."

"_Well, where are you now?_"

"Going home, why?"

"_Just checking in…_" Itachi sighed, "_Be careful alright?_"

"Of course! Besides, I had the best teacher in Konoha!"

I could almost hear Itachi laugh before hanging up.

He put up such a fuss for nothing… And here I thought someone died.

My house is right down the street from the park. The park was literally inside the neighborhood. The house itself had a small front yard but a really big back yard. It was two stories, having the living room, dining room, one restroom and the kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms each with their own bathroom upstairs. The outside was a pale blue color and the inside was a forest green color everywhere but the kitchen and bedrooms. I liked it a lot more than the house I was living in in Konoha. I liked Suna itself a lot more than Konoha for many reasons…

"Hey! New girl!" Someone called after me.

I was about halfway home when I heard someone call me. Of course it could have been anyone else but I was new and the only person outside. I whipped my head around to find a blonde running in my direction.

…The hell is he doing? What's with the stupid grin on his face?

He finally caught up to me because I was nice enough to stop and wait. If he tried anything, I could put his ass on the ground in three seconds.

"Hey! _puff_ I'm _puff_ Naruto! _puff puff._"

He held out his hand to shake mine but I just looked at him. I was waiting for an explanation. He caught his breath finally and spoke again.

"Right! Sorry! I'm Hinata's boyfriend. I saw you with her, Tenten and Temari and wanted to introduce myself!"

Oh… Hinata's boyfriend. Hm, he's nice enough. His intentions are innocent. I shook his hand.

"Sakura."

"So where are you from?"

"Konoha…"

Naruto smiled wide, "I'm from Konoha too! I moved here a few years back!"

"Really? What school did you go to?"

"I went to the leaf academy."

"So did I!"

I have to say, it was nice to have someone from home. And Naruto's pretty cool too.

"Iruka-sensei's class?"

I nodded.

"I knew I knew you from somewhere!"

He started waving around his arms dramatically and I laughed.

It was starting to come back to me. He must have been the really loud kid that always argues with Iruka.

"I have to go home now but it was nice meeting you! Catch you later, Naruto!"

Naruto nodded, "Bye Sakura-chan!"

We went our separate ways.

* * *

"Where did Naruto go?" I asked Hinata.

Hinata shrugged, not making eye contact. She knew exactly where he went. She just wasn't telling me.

I scowled and sat down beside Neji. He wasn't in a good mood either. I think he and Tenten had been arguing or something because she was on the other side of the festival grounds with Lee and some twat. Said twat was flirting mad hard and I could feel Neji's anger flaring.

I stole a glance at him. His face was red…

Naruto finally showed back up after about thirty minutes.

"Hey! Where'd you disappear off to, troublesome?" Shikamaru asked not even glancing up at the blonde.

Naruto ginned and sat next to Hinata. He grabbed her hand and started playing with her bracelet.

"I just saw an old friend and thought I'd try and catch up!"

Everyone gave him a questioning look but he shrugged.

The night went on but I never saw that girl again. My mind kept going back to her, no matter what I did to make it stop.

"Oh yeah! Gaara, we're going to have breakfast at Saku-chan tomorrow morning! Be up by eight!"

Who the hell is Saku-chan and what the hell makes Temari think I'm actually going with them?

"Trust me, bro. You'll want to go. She's an amazing cook!"

I rolled my eyes. I didn't care how amazing of a cook she might be. I wasn't interested in seeing or meeting her!

"I'm not going." I was blunt.

Temari's smiled turned into a death glare. I couldn't help but to look her straight in the eyes.

"Come on Gaara. It's just breakfast." Someone, probably Naruto chimed in.

Temari's glare suddenly turned into a cheery smile.

"Yeah! Just breakfast!"

How come I felt like this was a bad idea?

* * *

"I can't believe you're making me do this." I growled over the computer.

I was talking to a friend from the capital. His band was working on a music video in which they took videos of their friends dancing to their song, which had a dance to it, and put the clips of them dancing throughout the video. Lucky me.

"Come on Sakura! We really need you dance for the video! Please?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Do I have to look a certain way?"

He laughed.

"No! You just have to dance. Come on, I'll dance with you!" He sang the words to me.

I'm so glad he's gay. Really.

"Fine Sai…"

Here, it was one in the morning. There, it was eleven.

Sai and I go way back. He went to the academy with me and Naruto too I guess. We were basically inseparable since we were always together. Literally. The two of us had every single class together until graduation. Sai's like my brother. When he and his band moved to Capital city, I was heartbroken. Itachi said I resembled a dog that had been separated from its pack to long and developed depression. I only recognized the fact that he was comparing me to a dog.

"You're lucky you're two time zone away because I'd kill you if you weren't."

Sai chuckled.

"Why is that?"

"I have plans in the morning."

"Well let's hurry up and get this over with then!" He sang again, "Three, Two, One..."

We started dancing and let me tell you something. I can dance circles around Sai any day. Tonight must have been my night then! I saw the perfect guy, met someone from home and beat the crap out Sai in a dance off over video chat! Score! This whole day had been great. I made so many new friends already and I hadn't been in Suna twenty-four hours.

I wondered about that guy again. The singer. His eyes were my favorite color and his hair was so _red_. It reminded me of Sasori-sempai's hair but brighter… He had a lip ring. _A lip ring!_ When I would look up at the stage, he was staring at me. No one else. Some people would argue it was just a coincidence and he wasn't looking right at me but sometimes… You can just tell. It made me blush just thinking about it!

Of course, it's just a tiny crush. It'll never be anything more than that. I'll probably never see him again.

Something told me this was all going to be over soon. I needed to be happy with it for now because tomorrow will be a new day. New days in a new city with new people. It may seem refreshing but something was bound to go wrong. So, I wanted to live in the moment and be happy just dancing with Sai in my new house.

Tomorrow's another day.

We finally finished dancing and I dead beat tired. Stupid Sai. I had to go take a shower and go to bed for just two hours before I had to get up and make breakfast for me and my neighbors.

"Oh yes, Sakura. We must talk about something very important."

_Damn it!_

"Yes Sai?"

Why is he so serious all of the sudden?

"I have something I need to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you for a while now but… Sakura, I think I'm in love with you."

I almost fell over. My mind went completely blank. You've got to be kidding me.

"Sakura? Did you hear me?"

I panicked. What am I supposed to say? I don't love Sai like that! He's supposed to be gay!

"Oh! Look at the time! Gotta go! Bye!"

I slammed the laptop shut and felt like dying. Great. Just great. My supposedly homosexual best friend just confessed his love for me.

Shower then sleep. No more thinking about it.

* * *

I glanced out my window and scowled. What the hell was going on in that house? The light from one of the windows was shining directly into my room. Not like I was asleep anyway but still.

I saw a shadow of a girl dancing. The curtains restricted my view though She was dancing by herself. I could already tell she was a very odd girl. How is it that I haven't seen her but Temari and possibly everyone else has? What was that about? I had the urge to meet this girl. Just out of curiosity.

My mind automatically wondered to the pink haired girl. She had the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. My heart basically stopped right then and there. The girl of my dreams was there and gone just like that. It kind of pissed me off. Some may say love at first sight but no. I don't think that's what it was. I've never _loved_ a girl besides my sister and my mother anyway. I wouldn't know what it felt like.

I laid down on my bed and tried my hardest to ignore the light shining in my window.


	3. Spend The Day With Your Stranger

"Gaara! Get up! We're leaving in ten minutes!" Temari called from downstairs.

I rolled my eyes. I was ready to go twenty minutes ago. All we were doing was going next door anyway. What's the big deal?

I put in my lip ring, almost forgetting it and strolled downstairs. My sister grinned. What's up with her and grinning these days? She's usually just as cold as I am.

"Ten bucks says you'll like her."

"I'm not betting Temari. She's a girl not a poker game."

Kankuro came down last. He had on his face paint and everything, all ready to go.

"Ten bucks say I can get to go on a date with me!" Kankuro chanted walking out the front door.

Temari rolled her eyes and proceeded to trip Kankuro. Kankuro face planted into Baki's garden making Temari laugh. I smirked. Idiots. Baki was going to kill us when he found out.

"Hey! That's not nice Temari!"

"How long have you been in this family? Long enough to know I don't care, right?"

Temari rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, the girl answered the door. My heart stopped when I saw her. The pink haired girl from last night was standing in the doorway.

Damn it all!

She hugged Temari and Kankuro as they entered but she stared up at me. Did she remember me to?

She smiled after a minute of us just staring into each other's eyes and held out her hand.

"Hi! I'm Sakura Haruno!"

I took her hand and nodded, "Gaara…"

I almost choked saying my own name. Kankuro was snickering in the background.

"He didn't get a hug!"

I almost said something but Sakura stopped me. She must have heard him because next thing I know, Sakura had her arm wrapped around my neck. Much more affectionately than the way she had Kankuro.

Suck on that face paint. I gave him the finger behind her back and smirked.

"You sang last night right?" She asked still hugging me.

"Y-Yeah."

_Nice stutter._

"You did really well! I enjoyed your performance!"

I returned the hug by wrapping my arms around her slender waist and brought her close. We separated after a few seconds and Sakura grinned.

Kankuro's jaw dropped to the floor in awe. And Temari was still grinning like an idiot. I felt myself heat up. Shit.

"Ahaha! Gaara, I told you!" She yelled pointing a finger at me.

I shrugged it off. Sakura was staring between us confused.

"Anyway… Lucky for us, I have a table in the dining room!"

The living room was empty.

"Go find a seat at the table and I'll bring breakfast out!"

Temari followed her to the kitchen.

"I'll help!"

Kankuro and I sat on opposite sides since it was just a four seat table. I couldn't help but to glare at the idiot. If he hit on Sakura I'd kick his ass.

"So, Sakura's pretty cool huh?"

"Hn." _Shut up._

"She's nice right?"

"Hn." _Stop trying to make conversation. You're digging your own grave._

Kankuro arched a brow and smirked, "I wonder if she'll go on a date with me today."

_He didn't just say that._

I kicked his shin under the table and he half yelped half screamed like a little girl. Neither of us noticed Sakura and Temari were back already.

I heard Sakura giggle and I almost wanted to die. It was so sweet and bubbly. Nothing like me…

"Actually Kankuro, I _would_ like some company today! I'm going furniture shopping and I'm buying some paint for all the rooms. This color is just… Not my color."

She looked around and wrinkled her nose. Kankuro's eyes widened and his ego inflated like a balloon. I couldn't help but to feel a twinge of jealousy.

"But…"

She smirked.

But? But what? Kankuro's eyes were still hopeful but they were deflating quickly. I could feel her eyes bore into the back of my head.

Sakura put a plate of amazing looking food in front of me. It smelled so good! Temari never made anything like it before.

"I was going to ask Gaara if he wouldn't mind going with me! I need someone who can do some heavy lifting and Kankuro-san…"

She bit her lip and looked him up and down. Temari was about to die laughing. I smirked

"Let's face it honey, you don't seem to be much of a heavy lifter…"

Kankuro pouted, "I can lift! I'm great at lifting!"

"But you also have to work." Temari cut in, winking at me.

Sakura turned to me with her innocent orbs. She caught me with my mouth full…

"Would you mind going with me Gaara?"

I swallowed my food and nodded, "Sure, I'll go."

She smiled and clapped her hands together.

"Great!"

Everyone else started eating. It was comfortably silent for most of the time until Temari opened her mouth.

"How did you like the festival last night? I'm sorry you had to leave so early!"

"It was so fun! I loved it! And I'm sorry too, I wanted to introduce myself to a few people but I forgot about my curfew," Sakura paused, brightening up, "I met one of my classmates from the academy back home too! He stopped me on my way home."

"Who was that?"

"Naruto! He's really nice, a little dim but sweet."

"Yeah? Naruto's Gaara best friend! He was playing in the band!"

Sakura's face went blank. She hadn't even noticed. Really? She seemed pretty focused to me…

"He was…?"

"He plays the drums," I added.

Sakura laughed a little.

"Oops… I guess I just didn't see him."

Temari grinned, eyeing me.

Sakura's phone rang but she pressed the ignore button as soon as it started. She went from happy to a little sad. She tried to hide it.

"Who was that?" Yeah Temari, be blunt about it.

Sakura only smiled a little, "Just an old friend."

"If you need to call them back by all means-"

"No, no, no! I can't do that! I'll call him back later."

Temari only nodded, backing off a little and eating her food. It was obvious Sakura was uncomfortable talking about the situation. It intrigued me. She let her bangs cover her eyes just a little bit and it didn't look right. She looked better with her hair out of her face.

When I was little, my hair was a lot longer. Not down to my shoulders but long enough that my hair covered my face. Naruto pointed out later on that it made other kid uncomfortable. I got the impression Kankuro was getting pretty uncomfortable.

"Anyway… When do you want to go?" I asked in a rare attempt to liven up the conversation.

Sakura brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled, "I'm up for any time but it'll probably take a while so…" She trailed off on me.

"We could go right after breakfast."

Sakura nodded.

Everyone finished eating and Temari and Kankuro stood from their seats in a hurry. Temari glanced down at her imaginary watch.

"Oh look at the time! Kankuro's going to be late for work! Gotta go! Bye guys! Have fun!"

I mentally face palmed. My sister is an idiot. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but I shook my head. She shut her mouth and smiled. She waved them off leaving me at the table by myself. It didn't occur to me what exactly we were going to do until I was left alone.

Shopping…? I'm taking Sakura shopping? _That_ girl… I get to spend the whole day with _that_ girl. Last night, I couldn't stop thinking about her and now I'm spending the whole day with her.

_._

_._

_._

_"Naruto, this better not be one of their plans to hook me up again."_

_"C'mon! She could be cute!"_

_"I don't care if she's cute or not. Tell them in advance that I'm not interested and I would rather not have them try to hook us up."_

_._

_._

_._

_"What are you doing Naruto?! Get into your seat at the drums!"_

_Naruto pouted._

_"I was just seeing if Hinata was with the new girl or not…"_

_"And?" Shikamaru pushed._

_"She isn't but I saw her with Tenten and she-"_

_"Shut up!" I yelled._

.

.

.

"Damn it!" I muttered partly under my breath.

Sakura jumped staring at me in bewilderment. She didn't expect that.

It's just shopping. Nothing else! She may be beautiful but I swore I wouldn't. I swore I wouldn't even be attracted to her.

_Being single is better than being lovesick and possibly heartbroken._

"You okay?"

Sakura was leaning down in front of me, staring straight in my eyes. It made me a little nervous. Her emerald orbs were full of concern… For me?

"I- I'm fine!"

Sakura backed off and smiled again.

"Okay! I'll be ready to go in a few minutes! Just let me go get my bag and shoes!"

* * *

_"So what do you have planned for today, Sakura?" Temari asked me while we were still in the kitchen._

_"I'm going furniture shopping today but…"_

_"But what?"_

_I shrugged, "I don't really want to go by myself."_

_I was by no means asking Temari to go with me! I knew she probably had other things to tend to._

_"Why don't you ask Gaara to go with you? He's not busy!"_

_"You don't think he would mind…?"_

_"No way! He'd be more than happy to go even if he doesn't show it!"_

_"Um… Okay… I guess I'll ask him."_

_As soon as Temari and I got back into the dining room, I heard Kankuro say, "I wonder if she'll go on a date with me today."_

_Yeah, right. Let me tell you about it Kankuro._

.

.

.

Spending the whole day with Gaara sounded pretty great actually. We already had some sort of connection. I wasn't sure _what_ it actually was but it made me smile. I was already comfortable with him. It came so naturally too. At the same time though, Gaara made me nervous. _So nervous._

So nervous I almost ran into my own bedroom door. Nice Sakura. That was amazing.


	4. Can't Be Alone

Gaara insisted on driving. He said something about not wanting to get lost…

"Come on! I wouldn't get us lost!"

"Really? Temari got us lost a few months ago and we've lived here our whole lives. It took her four hours to figure out where we were."

Gaara kept his eyes on the road.

"Where were you?"

"We ended up two towns over."

"But the nearest town is an hour and a half away. How did she manage that?"

Suna was very isolated.

"I have no idea. I didn't ask… Needless to say, I've been driving ever since."

Gaara came off as very dry. Not humorless but just dry. I liked that though. All the guys I had ever met were too serious and ruthless, not serious at all and everything was a joke, or just plain brutal.

Gaara seemed to be the type who didn't play games. Very straightforward about most things, I guess. He hasn't mentioned anything about last night so maybe it was just me. Maybe he wasn't looking at me at all!

I don't know if I'm disappointed with that or not…

"There are three furniture stores in town. Which one do you want to go to?"

I shrugged, "Surprise me!"

Gaara didn't reply so my mind began drifting off. I stared out the window, watching everything go by.

I thought about what Sai said last night.

_Sakura, I think I'm in love with you._

Stupid, _stupid_ Sai! Why did he have to do this to me?

Truth be told, I've never dated anyone. I have very… high standards? My godfather has tried finding me a suitor because Kami forbid I die a single old cat lady.

I've seen Sai at his absolute best and worst. Just knowing what he's capable of if something went wrong in the relationship made me sick. Revenge can be sweet but it can also be bitter. It's bittersweet for most. But when Sai gets revenge, it's bitter for both parties.

I was tired of that word. Revenge. Everything in my life in Konoha was about revenge.

_Revenge is best served cold, Sakura. Your mother played the game well._

Nagato always pushed it one step too far. My mother died when I was thirteen. I saw everything. Needless to say, my life hasn't been the same sense. My family was never _normal_.

My phone went off again, cutting off my deep thoughts.

_Great._ Sai again.

"Go ahead and answer it. Might as well get it over with. We're here anyway."

I shook my head.

"No way! Today is going to be a good day. No one is going to ruin it."

Gaara arched a brow at me and I stared back with equal intensity. Eventually, we went into the store. I hoped he would drop the subject. The last person I needed to talk about Sai to would be Gaara.

"Hello, miss, sir. How may I help you today?" A busty woman approached us as soon as we walked in the doors.

She eyed Gaara and looked like she was going to drool. I inwardly gagged. Gaara didn't seem to notice or trained himself not to care. If he did, he would come off as a lot more conceited.

"Um, yes! I just moved here and I need new furniture and paint."

"Alrighty then! Let us start with paint. What color were you thinking?"

I looked over at Gaara and shrugged.

"I don't really know yet… Do you have the color cards?"

The woman beamed us a smile and nodded.

"Right this way, hun!"

For some reason, I didn't want to walk alone. I wanted Gaara to walk beside me. Something was off but I couldn't quite put my finger on it yet. Was someone watching me?

I took Gaara's arm and pulled him beside me. He was walking behind me and I was walking behind the saleswoman. He gave me a confused glance but stayed where I put him.

The store was huge, like those giant hardware stores. In fact, this might just pass as one. The ceiling was a good sixty feet above us, it felt like. The floors were bland, polished looking cement. It smelled like wood and sawdust… I enjoyed the scent actually. It reminded me of the woods I would play in as a kid with Itachi and Sasuke.

Our families were pretty close. At one point, I was over at their house every single day. My godfather assigned Itachi as my 'bodyguard' even though I was only five years old at the time. He would take Sasuke and me to school every morning and pick us up every afternoon. But, over the years, Sasuke and I grew apart. He became more focused on sports and becoming the world's biggest man whore and complete forgot about me.

To be sadly honest, I couldn't tell you where he is today. I have no clue and there's no way I'm asking Itachi.

Speaking of which. There's the devil himself calling me right now.

"Excuse me ma'am, I need to take this. You two go on without me. I'll catch up."

The saleswoman was overjoyed. Yay, she got the hot redhead to herself!

I inwardly cursed her.

Gaara almost refused but I shooed him off.

"I'll catch up Gaara!"

He looked defeated and sighed, following the beaming saleswoman toward the smell of paint. He scrunched up his nose when she wasn't looking.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Sakura. What's going on?"_

"I'm out shopping with a friend! Furniture shopping! When you finally come over, the place will look amazing!" I almost gushed but then I remembered who I was. Harunos don't gush.

"_Good! I'll need a place to crash. Anyway, be on the lookout."_

"Why?"

"_Someone is coming your way. Stay with that friend of yours alright?"_

"U-Uh… Sure, okay! I'll talk to you later then?"

"_Yeah, bye!"_

Be on the lookout? Seriously? Here? I go four hundred miles away from my hometown, only to have it follow me here to Suna!

I inwardly scowled and stomped my way over to the paint section. I planted myself right next to Gaara who was nonchalantly looking over the thousands of different paint shades the store offered.

"This is ridiculous. How am I supposed to choose when there are so many different colors?"

"Pick which ones reflect your personality. It's your house so it should reflect who you are." Gaara grunted.

I was speechless for a moment because he said something that made so much sense. Not saying he didn't make sense all the time…

"Okay! What about this green for the living room and dining room, this blue for the hallways and all the other rooms except my room and the kitchen, a lighter shade of green for the kitchen and this blue for my room? Hm, I like these."

Gaara nodded.

I looked around to see where the saleswoman went off to, to tell her I made my decision on the paints.

"Where did that lady go? Isn't she supposed to be helping us?"

"She asked me to ditch you and go to breakfast with her. I told her I had breakfast at your place and to piss off. She got pissed and left."

Whoa, she must have taken that the wrong way.

"Whoa Gaara, you must not appreciate girls drooling over you, huh?"

"There's only one girl I can tolerate with that kind of behavior. It sort of hit me last night all of the sudden. I actually enjoyed the attention she was giving me. Even if it wasn't intentional."

"Lucky girl."

I couldn't help but to feel a little jealous. Okay. That's a lie. I was jealous. More than just a little jealous. It pissed me off. Who am I to be pissed off though? Oh right, no one!

Gaara only smirked, not making eye contact with me. He took the paint cards out my hands and went to the counter.

"Which one do you want to start with?"

"Go ahead and do all of them please," I responded.

Gaara gave the card to the man behind the counter, who said it would take a few minutes for them to get finished.

"Want to go look around until they're done?" I asked.

Gaara only nodded and walked off. I followed him, trying to keep up with his pace. The silence was comfortable for a while.

_When she disappeared to take a phone call, the lady who we were following practically pounced at the opportunity to ask me on a date. If I knew Sakura better, I would have stayed with her and away from that woman…_

_She whirled around to face me, her big brown staring at me hopefully._

"_Wanna ditch pinky and go to breakfast with me? Come on, I know you want to!"_

_I scowled at her. Who does she think she is?_

"_I already had breakfast with pinky at her place so piss off."_

_The shocked look that engulfed her features as quite funny to look at actually. She must have really thought I would play her little game with her. This town is pretty small. She should know better._

Sakura came back, not even asking where the girl was at first. I don't think she realized she was even gone until we were done picking out colors.

I told her what happened and she rolled her eyes. Sakura was clueless. She had no idea I was even talking about her. I felt like it gave me an advantage in a way.

I took her paint cards to the desk and asked which one she wanted first.

"Go ahead and do all of them please!"

"It'll take several minutes."

"Okay, thank you!"

We started walking around aimlessly to waste time. In doing so, Sakura found several things she wanted. She wrote them down and gave the list to one of the employees so the store would deliver everything to her house one day next week, excluding the paint. We took all the paint back to her house.

Sakura looked exhausted.

"Why don't we start painting later? Go take a nap or something. I'll come back in a few hours." I only suggested this because she looked like she was going to pass out.

Sakura leaned against a wall and slid down with her eyes closed.

"My er… guardian said I couldn't be alone today."

"Why?"

"Stupid stuff…"

I kneeled down in front of her and stared. I wasn't going to question it any further. Some people just shouldn't be left alone sometimes. I usually don't care though. Why do I care now?

"Go take a nap. I'll stay down here and set out the newspapers to paint."


End file.
